by Roseanna White | Aug 24, 2009 | Modern Mondays
This is slightly off-topic (for what I said Mondays were for), but what I’m working on right now. As I prepare for the ACFW conference that starts in three short weeks, I need to have all my pitch stuff ready. Including authors I can compare my stuff to.
Now, when it comes to historicals, I’m set on that front. Got my list, no problem. Except that I probably won’t be pitching any historicals. I’ll have them with me, just in case, but I doubt that’ll be my focus. Unfortunately, I don’t know who to compare myself to when it comes to contemporaries.
My contemporary voice has turned rather light and witty . . . chatty. And I’m having a hard time finding authors who write like that in third person. Got a few that do first person, but I wouldn’t want to say “I write like so and so” when all her stuff is in first and none of mine is.
So yesterday I went through the CBA Bestseller List and the Christy awards, checked all titles that looked promising, read first pages of a ton of books . . . and came up with a few options. Don’t know how stellar a list it is, but at least it’s something. Because last time, they really did ask me “Who would you compare your writing to?” so I better continue to have an answer!
I’m totally up for revisions, though, if anyone has an author spring to mind who writes contemporary stories in third person, with multiple points-of-view, in a fun, lighthearted voice. Not that hard issues aren’t tackled, mind you, but tackled with humor and a healthy dose of sarcasm.
All brilliant suggestions are welcome! (Stupid ones are acceptable too, though no promises that I’ll use them;-)
by Roseanna White | Aug 21, 2009 | Author Interviews and Guest Posts
When I was writing my Chicago-based historical,
Mafia Princess, I needed a little help. Okay, a LOT of help, lol. My experience with Chicago was confined to one awful night at O’Hare (nothing like standing in a line for three hours when you’re six months pregnant!), and that obviously wasn’t something I could draw on. So I put out a call on my writing loops, asking for native Chicagoans to answer a few questions.
With my first round, I got several people willing to share some basic information. Among them was Terri Kraus. I knew her name from my historical group, which has a small-ish membership–and because I had just sent her book, The Restoration, to one of my reviewers. What I learned over the next couple months is that Terri also has a passion for her heritage and a heart happy to share it and help others.
As I wrapped up my novel, I had a few more questions that needed answered, so I sent out another email. In addition to some more simple “do you know?”s, I jokingly (sort of) offered to “let” (ha ha) a native read my manuscript to check for setting issues. I honestly didn’t expect any takers. So you can imagine my surprise when multi-pubbed author Terri raised her hand after asking a few questions of her own (like “Why did you choose Chicago for your setting?” and 
“What research have you done?”).
Terri blessed me hugely by sharing her Italian heritage as well as her knowledge of Chicago, offering insight into my characters, and providing those priceless words of wisdom like “Chicagoans would never say that.” LOL. Obviously, it got me curious about who “my Italian Chicagoan helper,” as I referred to her to friends outside the loop, really was.
Terri has a slew of books to her credit, some of them co-authored with her husband Jim, some written solo. Her solo series is published by David C. Cook and com
bines her love of design with her love of old things. One of my most trusted reviewers had requested The Renovation the moment I listed it and begged for its sequel, The Renewal when it was available. Her excitement about the first book is palpable in her review. (She’s sent me the review for the second one, but my ancient Word can’t open it . . .) The final book in the Project Restoration series, The Transformation, will be hitting shelves the end of the month (August ’09).
When I asked Terri to share about her writing, she confessed that she still adores the first books she ever coauthored with her hubby–and why not? Pirate books–hello!! She loved digging into the research for a historical, and is currently working on a book about Italian women during WWII. Can’t wait for that one!
Terri tags her work as “Passionately Inspirational Fiction,” and I gotta think that’s appropriate. Maybe it’s the 100% Italian blood coursing through her veins, but I know firsthand that Terri is a woman who pursues her interests with passion and inspires other with her generosity and spirit. And that, to me, is a woman you want to know. Terri’s an author I’m going to watch and I wonderful person I pray I get to meet someday soon!
Check out her website at www.TerriKraus.com.
by Roseanna White | Aug 20, 2009 | Thoughtful Thursdays
When I was very little (as in, from 2 to 4 1/2 years old) my family lived in a split-foyer house. There are things I remember about this house–my room. The kitchen with the breakfast bar separating it from the dining room.
The stairs.
Why, you ask, do I remember the stairs? Interesting and weird story. I have a few memories relating to this. The first few are of approaching the stairs, pausing to make sure no one else was looking, and then jumping. Three years old, mind you. Jumping down the stairs. Now that I have a 3-yr-old of my own, this is even more terrifying.
But I did it because for some reason, I knew I wouldn’t fall on those stairs. I knew–knew–that I could leap down that first flight to the landing and would just float along, landing oh-so-softly on my feet.
And I knew that if I tried it on the second flight down to the basement, I’d fall and hurt myself.
There were a few other things I knew. First, I couldn’t tell anyone about it or do it when they were watching. Second, I could only do it until my next birthday.
Had you asked me at the time how this was possible, I would have said, “Angels carry me down.” Another thing I just knew. And interestingly, my family didn’t attend church back then. I had no “religious upbringing” to-date. So how I knew this . . . Eyes of a child, I suppose.
But I was a stubborn child. (Who, me? Never! LOL.) On that birthday, in spite of knowing I couldn’t and shouldn’t, I checked to make sure no one was watching and then took a flying leap . . . and a giant tumble. My mom came running, and couldn’t understand why in the world I’d tried to jump down the stairs.
Years later I finally told my mom about this, and she got this strange look on her face. “You flew down the stairs?” she asked. Then she shook her head. “I did the same thing when I was a kid. It was angels.”
Maybe my family’s just weird. Or maybe this a priori faith in the world beyond our vision is something inherent in children, something they understand the rules of . . . but something they grow out of.
Makes me wonder what my daughter sees when she looks out over a revival meeting and asks, “Why’s there an alligator on that man’s head?” Or when she looks to the corner of the room and smiles. I’m willing to grant imagination on a lot of things, but I also remember so clearly that certain knowledge that there were angels there, waiting to give me a ride . . . for a time. So long as I obeyed the rules.
In all my life I don’t remember ever seeing an angel–certainly not since I became a believer and grew up into adulthood. But I find it even more interesting that my one personal experience with them pre-dates my education in faith. Just goes to show you, I guess–there’s a lot we can teach kids about God.
And a lot they can teach us.
by Roseanna White | Aug 19, 2009 | Remember When Wednesdays
One of the things I find most interesting about the shape (so to speak) of the Twenties is women’s issues. Now, I am not a feminist–far from it. I baffled many a young woman in my college classes when I replied to their in-class rants on “Why should the men be in charge?” with “Why not? Someone needs to have the final say. They were more qualified.” (Keeping in mind this was a conversation on Ancient Greece, lol.)
But when women gained the right to vote in 1920, it ushered in a new era for females around the nation. As the father of my heroine observes in Mafia Princess, the new legislation made women champion equality across the board–and that led to some interesting changes.
You know the 20s fashions we all find so charming? All those straight lines and curve-less silhouettes came straight from men’s clothing. One fashion book I looked at for research referred to the 20s as the Tomboy Decade. Hair went short, corsets went out (though a more comfortable version quickly came back in), shape went straight, and now and then you’d even (gasp!) see a woman in trousers–though that was still very rare.
The Flappers we often equate with the decade (though they weren’t as numerous as you might think) took things a step farther and flaunted the feminity they kept with a boldness unheard of before. Sure, most ladies powdered their noses–but never in public as they did. And applying lipstick in a restaurant where everyone could see? Shocking! They rolled their stockings down so you could see the tops below the hems of their dresses, and even wore frocks cut low enough up top to show their bandeaux!
And those things–they took undergarments to a level that Victorian mothers had to wonder about. After centuries of women accentuating their curves and padding them where lacking, these elastic contraptions’ sole purpose was to flatten a woman’s (ahem) assets. Otherwise those straight-lined dresses wouldn’t hang as they should, and the tomboy-ish thing would have gone out the window.
Women put much of the roar into the Roaring Twenties by defying what had before been social norms, demanding freedom, and chucking the styles that men expected. And still . . . even those flappers would have been shocked by what we consider normal today. (We think their dresses were short, but “short” meant two inches below the knee.)
Makes for interesting characterization, let me tell you! There was a pretty big gap between the thinking of the mothers still in a Victorian mindset and the thinking of the daughters coming of age in the 20s. Stories just waiting to be written. =)
by Roseanna White | Aug 18, 2009 | What We're Reading
Is there anything better than action, adventure, and romance on the high seas? (Well, maybe a full night’s sleep, but that’s an entry for another time . . .) Those are the key ingredients in MaryLu Tyndall’s latest release, The Blue Enchantress, a book I’m having a hard time putting down.
This won’t be a full review because I’m still in the middle of it, but ahhhhhh. I know when I pick up one of MaryLu’s books that I’m in for some tall ships, some pirates, some spiritual elements that send goosebumps shuddering up my spine, and a love story that will set my heart a-pumping. The Blue Enchantress is the second in the Charles Town Belles trilogy, but it easily stands alone–and stands so well that I’m already looking forward to the next one.
It centers around Hope, a young woman who has always relied on her charm and beauty to get her way. But when bad decisions land her on an auction block in St. Kitts, about to be sold as a slave, she swears she’s going to change. Especially when Nathanial Mason, a man she’s only scoffed at before but who may just be the most gentlemanly man she’s ever met, sells half his belongings to save her. Hope dreams of starting afresh and becoming a true lady–but with the dark shadows haunting her every step, will she ever have the chance?
Thus far, this book has it all. Hurricans, shipwrecks, pirates . . . everybody release a satisfied sigh with me. I was reading it the other night, and my husband started pouting that I wasn’t paying any attention to him. (Guilty.) I replied, “Hold on, they just got stranded on a deserted island. Let me finish this chapter.” And though I did put it down, it was with a huff. “I left the poor guy with a sword at his chin,” I said.
And for the record, last night when I had a rare hour alone (the hubby took the kids to the park) I chose to spend most of it reading this book. That right there speaks to its greatness, because usually I’d be parked in front of my computer the whole time.
Now I’m going to cut this short, because last night I left a sweet character with a pirate. Arg! Have to go read more and see what he wants with her (other than that). So I’ll just leave you with this–miracles and minions, pirates and slave auctions, love and jealousy and some checked-but-searing passion . . . what’s not to like? Check out MaryLu Tyndall’s The Blue Enchantress for a book that will sweep you away.
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.